Denmark's Sovereignty is a Red Line in Greenland Talks with US

Denmark will refuse to back any deal involving an increased United States military presence in Greenland that crosses “red lines” about its sovereignty, the country’s prime minister has said. Talks are expected to take place between the Trump administration, Denmark and Greenland on the outline of a “framework” agreement for the future security of the Arctic island. European leaders are hopeful the negotiations will resolve the dispute that has rocked transatlantic relations close to breaking point in recent days. US president Donald Trump dropped threats to use military force or crippling trade tariffs to pressure the kingdom of Denmark to “sell” its semi-autonomous territory, Greenland, to the US. The breakthrough which averted a confrontation between the US and Europe was brokered during a meeting between Mr Trump and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. Initial media reports suggest the outline of the deal sold to Mr Trump could include US bases on Greenland being treated as sovereign American territory. The US has one base on the huge land mass, which acts as a key part of an early warning system to detect any missile fired towards the US from the high north. The European Union’s 27 leaders took stock of the shaky diplomatic truce during a summit in Brussels. The meeting had been called earlier in the week to discuss how to respond should Mr Trump follow through on threats of new trade tariffs. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said there are certain “red lines” around sovereignty that Copenhagen would not compromise on in any discussions involving the US. “It is clear for everybody that we are a sovereign state and we cannot negotiate about that,” she said on her way into the EU summit on Thursday. “We have been working very closely with the US for many years. We have to work together respectfully without threatening each other." [ ‘My country pulled world into a black abyss’: Chancellor urges leaders to learn from GermanyOpens in new window ] The Danish prime minister pointed to an existing agreement that has allowed Washington to station military personnel and installations on the Arctic island since 1951. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was expected to tell leaders she felt the EU’s strategy of pushing for dialogue, but preparing firm retaliatory measures if talks failed, has worked well. The EU had prepared counter-tariffs to hit €93 billion worth of US trade as an initial response. One senior EU official heavily involved in the frantic diplomacy of recent days said they believed any US tariffs would have galvanised national governments to support firmer retaliation. This could include the union’s powerful anti-coercion trade “bazooka” that could limit US companies’ operations in Europe. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it has been a “challenging few weeks”, but “common sense” prevailed on the Greenland crisis. “I think it’s important now that it’s in a process, that we de-escalate tensions around this,” he said. “The US-EU relationship is still a very critical relationship, economically, politically, geopolitically, so both sides have to work extremely hard to maintain that relationship,” the Fianna Fáil leader said. Any undermining of that transatlantic bond would have “very serious repercussions for European citizens and for American citizens”, he said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy used a speech in Davos to accuse European leaders of being stuck in “Greenland mode” and shifting their focus away from Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. In a separate address at the World Economic Forum, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the rise of “great powers” flexing their muscles is causing the old world order to unravel at “breathtaking pace”.